The Importance of Unplugging

I don’t know about you, but my iPhone with all the notifications and messages from social media often reminds me of Shanghai’s People Square Station during rush hour.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the immediate access to information my phone provides me with.

The fact that social media platforms such as WeChat and Facebook allow me to touch base with my family members, friends, clients and see what they are doing by scrolling through their posts and pictures is also great. Not to mention my love for engaging with like-minded people online and making connections that help me and my Coaching Practice to grow.Finally, being able to share my articles and spread the wellness message in the social sphere is a great privilege, without the help of online social media it wouldn’t have been possible to reach so many of you.

Let’s face it, even though my phone does feel like a busy metro station at times, using it does have plenty of benefits as otherwise I wouldn’t spend so much time on it!

That being said, during my recent family gathering it became clear to me that my desire to stay connected via social media has gotten a bit out of control. When having a great conversation I wasn’t fully present and had a strong urge to scroll through the posts on WeChat and Facebook. This wasn’t a one-off event. I also often have the need to pick up my phone when working on important projects which causes unnecessary mini breaks and constant interruption of flow. 

The questions of the hour are, “Have I developed an unhealthy attachment to my phone?”, “Am I becoming a phone junkie?”, “Do I feel that if I’m not on it, I will miss out on something?”, “Hmmm, I think the answer is YES!” 

Have you asked yourself these questions?

What’s the answer? Yeah, I thought so.

I bet you, just like me, don’t feel comfortable with being addicted to stuff regardless of the benefits. For this reason, today, I’ve made a decision to disconnect myself from social media, apps, and emails for the next 10 days. Will you join me?

During this time I hope to experience the following effects: 

FOCUS: If I’m more focused on the task at hand without constant ‘check ins’ then I’ll waste less time and get much more done! 

TIME: Having more time, will allow me to spend time creating new recipes. Even though I love eggs, my gorgeous niece is allergic to them so my goal for the next 10 days is to create and test as many kids friendly, egg-free recipes as possible. I will share all of them in my next blog posts. 

PRESENCE: By turning off the constant stream of notifications, I’ll be fully present when spending time with my family and friends and this I hope will reduce the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) syndrome. 

Ultimately by doing a social media detox I hope to reach a point where I’m in control of how often I check my phone regardless of how many incoming notifications I get.

When was the last time you went through a day without checking your phone every five seconds? I’m not advocating for you to stop using your phone but to set ‘rest time’ to help your brain reboot and value your down time. Find balance by unplugging once in a while and share your experience in the comment section of my wellness blog. 

Since I’m going ‘cold turkey’ for the next 10 days, I won’t be posting anything new until 5th of July. 

Thanks for reading and till 5 of July ;-)

Izabela

Your Certified Primal Health Coach

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